30% DISCREPANCY BETWEEN GROWTH RATES OF CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING STONE EXTRACTION INDICATES EXISTENCE OF SHADOW IN BUILDING STONE EXTRACTION SECTOR
Noyan Tapan
Mar 09 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. About 300 licences have been
granted to the mineral extraction companies in Armenia, most of
which operate nonmetal or building material mines. Artur Ashughian,
Head of the Nature Use Economics and Mining Industry Department of
the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, said it at the
March 7 press conference. According to him, there is a “shadow”
sector in the building stone extraction, which is indicated by the
fact that in Armenia, the growth rate of construction exceeds that
of building stone production by 30%. Whereas the difference in the
volumes of cement production and exports and the volumes of cement
use in construction are almost the same. According to A. Ashughian,
only two companies are engaged in cement production in the country.